The Metamorphosis

by Franz Kafka

You couldn’t hear the doors closing at all. They probably had left them open, as is customary in an apartment where a great misfortune has taken place.

What the world demands of poor people they now carried out to an extreme degree.

This old widow, whose strong bony frame had enabled her to survive the worst a long life can offer, had no real horror of Gregor.

had Christmas really already come and gone?

had felt overwhelmed by the unexpected breaking off of the recital.

She had held onto the violin and bow in her limp hands for a little while and had continued to look at the sheet music as if she were still playing.